Life Course Center

The Life Course Center (LCC) is an interdisciplinary research center founded in the Department of Sociology in 1986 to support scholarly inquiry related to the life course. Now housed in the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, the LCC is currently supported by the Institute, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Department of Sociology. The center provides an intellectual forum that enriches the research and educational activities of a broad range of faculty and students in the Department of Sociology as well as in other units of the University.

Life course studies encompass all stages of life from birth to death. Affiliated faculty use a wide range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, including qualitative and quantitative work, historical studies of the life course in different periods, comparative work that spans diverse societal contexts, and applied policy-relevant research.

Although the center is not currently a degree-granting program, it enhances graduate education through research, seminars, and courses offered by the center's faculty. Graduate students participate as research assistants and as collaborators in faculty research. Students and faculty alike share their research ideas, plans, and findings in the Work Family Time Workshop Series.